Julia Friedrich, 26, traveled from her home in Berlin to spend a week on the eco-commune, where she learned about organic farming and foraging.

Joanna Kakissis
/ NPR

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Originally published on September 15, 2012 9:55 am

Facing their country's worst recession in a half-century, many young Greeks are leaving for jobs abroad. But Apostolos Sianos, a 31-year-old Athenian, decided to buck the trend.

Two years ago, Sianos quit his lucrative job designing websites in Athens to help establish an eco-commune, called the Telaithrion Project, in Aghios, his family's ancestral village on the island of Evia. The idea was to teach people to be self-sufficient at a time when both money and opportunities are drying up.

"This means they may be taught simple things like baking your own bread or more complex things like building your own house," says Sianos, who helped build the commune's yurts — the giant, rounded tents favored by Central Asian nomads. About 20 people live on the commune at any given time, and Sianos estimates more than 2,500 people — including many outside Greece — have visited in the last couple of years.

A recent visitor was 26-year-old Julia Friedrich. She traveled from Berlin to spend a week learning about organic farming, something she wants to try back home in Germany. "I brought my sleeping bag and my mattress," she said, showing the corner in the yurt where she slept. "They have mattresses and some blankets and pillows, so there's everything you need for a good night's sleep."

Friedrich had spent the day cleaning walnuts with 24-year-old Myrto Vournia, who quit her low-paying waitressing job in Athens to work on the commune. "We'll make dinner with [the walnuts] tonight," says Vournia, who's lived here for a month. "Later, we're preparing sun-dried tomatoes."

Those who visit the commune also learn to forage for nuts and wild greens, restore discarded furniture and even make their own toothpaste (a mixture of clay, baking soda and peppermint).

Sianos and his partners chose Aghios as the site for their project in part because they wanted to find enough land to eventually expand the commune into a school that teaches sustainable living in a cash-free economy.

"We searched all over Greece," Sianos says. "Most of the people we talked with said to us, 'Don't go somewhere that you don't know anybody.' "

His father, Giorgos, already lived on Aghios. Before the recession hit five years ago, the elder Sianos left his import business in Athens to return to the village where he had grown up. He introduced his son to the conservative villagers of Aghios.

"At first, they were skeptical because rural Greeks tend to be suspicious," he says. "It helped that they already knew me. So the locals embraced him, and some villagers lent [the commune] their fields to cultivate."

Giorgos Sianos now stocks his taverna with fresh produce from the commune, which is vegan and cultivates 80 percent of its food.

Dionysis Papanikolaou, a 30-year-old chemist from northern Greece who has lived on the commune for six months, plants sage, rosemary and lavender. He says working here has taught him to blaze his own path.

"I don't think a country can provide opportunities," he says. "I mean it's up to the individual if they want to grab opportunities or create opportunities for themselves."

With a doctorate in chemistry, Papanikolaou could work anywhere in the world. But he says he wants to stay in Greece. He says it's a land he's just begun to cultivate.

Faced with the worst recession in half a century, many young Greeks are leaving their country to work abroad. But one young Athenian is fighting that tide. He quit his Web designing job in the city to found an eco-commune in his family's village. And now, he's teaching Greeks to farm, forage and build their own homes. Joanna Kakissis sends this postcard.

MYRTO VOURNIA: (Through Translator) We picked these walnuts yesterday, and we'll make dinner with them tonight. Later on, I'm going to prep some sun-dried tomatoes.

KAKISSIS: Myrto quit her low-paying waitressing job in Athens a month ago to work on this eco-commune called the Telaithrion Project. It's in a mountain village called Agios in northern Evia, a big island near the Greek capital.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Foreign language spoken)

KAKISSIS: About 20 people live on the commune at any given time and more than 2,500 have visited in the last two years, says co-founder Apostolos Sianos. The former Web designer teaches them to be self-sufficient.

APOSTOLOS SIANOS: This means they may be taught from simple things like baking your own bread or more complex things like building your own house.

KAKISSIS: And he has built his own house - a yurt. That's the giant round tent favored by Central Asian nomads. Julia Friedrich, who's visiting from Berlin, shows me the yurt where she's staying.

JULIA FRIEDRICH: I brought my sleeping bag and my mattress and they have like the blue mattresses and they have some blankets and pillows, so there's everything you need to have a good night's sleep.

KAKISSIS: Apostolos and his partners wanted to find enough land to expand the commune into a school that teaches sustainable living in a cash-free economy.

SIANOS: We search all over Greece where to go and most of the people that we talked with say to us: Don't go somewhere that you don't know anybody.

KAKISSIS: So Apostolos asked his father, Giorgos, who already lived in Agios. Giorgos runs a taverna here. He introduced his son to the conservative villagers.

GIORGOS SIANOS: (Through Translator) So the locals embraced him and some villagers lent their fields to cultivate.

(SOUNDBITE OF HAMMERING)

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Hello. (Foreign language spoken).

KAKISSIS: The commune cultivates 80 percent of its food in a large garden. Dionysis Papanikolaou is planting sage, rosemary and lavender there. Working here has taught him to blaze his own path, he says.

DIONYSIS PAPANIKOLAOU: I don't think a country can provide opportunities. I mean, it's up to the individual if they want to grab opportunities or create opportunities for themselves.

KAKISSIS: Dionysis has a Ph.D. in chemistry, so he could work anywhere in the world. But why, he says, should he leave Greece - a land he's just begun to cultivate.

For NPR News, I'm Joanna Kakissis.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SIMON: This is NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.